The Los Angeles Dodgers had reason to be frustrated at the conclusion of their 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. They failed to generate much of anything against Max Scherzer, who had nine strikeouts through three innings.
Scherzer finished with a season-high 14 strikeouts. He was backed by a struggling Nationals that again managed to preserve the lead. However, Koda Glover sparked an unnecessary incident upon earning a save.
Glover got Yasiel Puig to chase a pitch out of the zone on a full count. Puig struck out to strand the tying run at second base and end the game. As part of his celebration, Glover appeared to yell an expletive at Puig.
The Dodgers outfielder responded, “What?” and began to walk toward the mound. Dodgers first base coach Chris Woodward stepped in front of Puig, while Nationals catcher Matt Wieters constrained Glover. Both benches cleared but that was the extent of it.
“Yasiel is very emotional,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts following the loss. “In that at-bat he might have been a little too demonstrative for Glover, I guess. I don’t know. It was kind of his own deal. I guess he took offense to it.”
Glover acknowledged he didn’t take kindly to Puig staring his direction. Puig did not address the media.
It was the second time in the past eight days the Nationals were involved in a benches-clearing scrum. Though their first was the San Francisco Giants was ignited by Hunter Strickland throwing at Bryce Harper, and included several punches thrown.
Coincidentally, benches also cleared during the Dodgers’ last visit to AT&T Park, because Johnny Cueto suspected Yasmani Grandal was stealing signs.
